Vatican accuses Italians of racism after southern riots

The Vatican's newspaper on Tuesday accused Italians of being racist in the wake of riots sparked by tensions between locals and African immigrants in southern Italy.

A group of immigrants living in Rosarno, take part in a protest demonstration in Rosarno, ItalyPhoto: EPA

By Nick Squires in Rome

4:25PM GMT 12 Jan 2010

In an unusually forthright attack, the Holy See's official mouthpiece, L'Osservatore Romano, said the violence of local residents towards the migrant farm labourers had revealed a "mute and savage hatred towards another skin colour that we thought we had overcome".

More than 1,000 Africans had to be evacuated to safety from the town of Rosarno in the southern Calabria region at the weekend after they clashed with local residents.

The violence was sparked by a group of Italians shooting at some of the Africans with air rifles and pellet guns on Thursday. There was another, similar attack on Saturday.

Angry immigrants burned cars and shop windows. Locals retaliated by beating them with bars, trying to run them over and setting up barricades.

In an editorial entitled "Italians and Racism", L'Osservatore Romano said: "For once, the press is not exaggerating... We have never excelled in our sense of openness, we Italians, from the north to the south.

"The American example has been futile: Obama-mania has taken hold from politics to art, from style to language, but has not breached the gap in showing the value of bringing different races together," the paper said.

L'Osservatore Romano traced the history of racism in Italy back to the country's colonial past and the Fascist era under Mussolini, and criticised the racist abuse hurled at black football players by Italian fans.

On Monday, around 2,000 people staged an anti-racism march in Rosarno, saying that locals and African migrant workers had lived together peaceably for 20 years and blaming the authorities for failing to provide adequate accommodation for the labourers.